To say the New York Giants are underdogs on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens would be the understatement of the week. Betting odds aren't faring well for the 2-11 Giants, who are set to face a much more complete 8-5 Ravens squad.
The visiting Ravens are 16.5-point favorites, making the Giants the biggest home underdogs in a game in its franchise history since 1966, when it played at Yankee Stadium. This is also the largest point spread of any NFL game this season.
It's been 58 years and four stadium changes since New York's home crowd walked into such a lopsided game. Frank Sinatra, The Supremes and The Temptations were topping music charts, "Star Trek" had just premiered and the "Andy Griffith Show" was hitting the CBS airwaves.
At the time, Allie Sherman was the Giants head coach, leading them to a 1-12-1 record, the fewest victories the team ever ended with in a season. That year, the Giants gave up the most-ever points during a 14-game season.
Flash forward to this season and things are a little better than they were for New York in 1966, but not much better.
The Giants were initially 14.5-point underdogs against the Ravens, but a quarterback swap changed the spread.
Giants head coach Brian Daboll announced earlier this week that with Drew Lock in a walking boot due to a heel injury, Tommy DeVito was in line to start. That one move changed the spread by two points.
This will be DeVito's second start of the season. He led the offense following Daniel Jones' release and went 21 of 31 with 189 passing yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions in the 30-7 Week 12 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Ravens are the only franchise since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 to be undefeated when favored by 10.5-plus points, going 36-0 when favored by more than 10 points.
The biggest home spreads we have seen in recent history in the league include the Miami Dolphins +18 against the New England Patriots in 2019 and the Denver Broncos +16.5 against the Saints in 2020. The Giants are tied for the largest home threads since 2020.
